W520 owner to move to W530?

[wolfindersteppe]

Intel has just announced the Ivy Bridge CPU's, for me as "power" and "mobile workstation" junkie are only the the Core i7-3720QM to i7-3920XM relevant. But would the newer CPU with aprox. 20% more power and 20% less TDP be the reason to buy the new W530? For me the answer is no.

In my case, I utilize heavily my W520 for development and software demos and need an overall excellent system combined of maximum CPU power with maximum RAM with maximum (SSD) storage and of course, (SSD) throughput speed. And in case of SSD, the new Ivy Bridge chipset QM77, which I suppose will be coming with W530, is still offering only 2 of 6Gb/s SATA ports, what means that my mSATA disk will be still running in SATA 3GB/s mode. For me, the decision is easy, I will stay with W520 and wait for next generation. And that is good in overall, since I hope now to stay in (Intel wording) Tock modus and avoid Tick mode.

It is another story if it would be possible to install the new Ivy-Bridge CPU on existing QM76 chipset, which is utilized by W520. That is not clear in the moment and I would be surprised if it would be possible. On the other side, since the communication between the CPU and the chipset still over PCIe-2.0-like DMI runs, it is possible to apply the Sandy-Bridge CPU on new Ivy-Bridge QM77.

[Jimbo]

Stay in the dark ages if you wish, wolfindersteppe.  See this comparison, for example.

I'll eventually be going with an Ivy Bridge/Kepler notebook with dual SSDs in RAID0. 

For anyone contemplating a similar route, here's an interesting article on SSD reliability compared to hard drives, under heavy usage.

[arretium]

I have a W520 and can't justify a W530 either.  I just bought a samsung SSD drive and the system is kicking but.

I'll wait for the W540.  I'm waiting for a really good graphics card...

I can't believe there is no HDMI on the w530.  Surely there is, right?

[ColonelONeill]

I think was mini-DisplayPort. Which is worse than full-size DisplayPort but still better than HDMI.

[alphaman]

As hyped as the IvyBridge stuff has been the desktop chips have been getting a fairly non excited response in comparison to the Sandy Bridge predecessors. Most claim there's no point upgrading from a Sandy to an Ivy and apparently they get hotter than the Sandys.


However in Notebook terms, I think the only real advantage to be seen will be if the newer Quadro cards annihilate the 2000M but I've not seen any reviews on the cards as of yet.

Like myself who has a W510, moving to a W530 would be a good step but even so not 100% necessary although from a W500 it would be night and day. From a W520 though I think you could afford to skip to the W540.

The other factor to consider is reliability the W520 from what i've read has had its horrid share of problems so that could be a reason for people to move to the W530 if it proves to be more reliable but as of yet that remains to be seen also. 

[ThorsHammer]

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alphaman wrote:

The other factor to consider is reliability the W520 from what i've read has had its horrid share of problems so that could be a reason for people to move to the W530 if it proves to be more reliable but as of yet that remains to be seen also. 

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And you really won't know that for another 6 months.

[gvnchw]

apologies for maybe being in the wrong thread...this is the first time I have posted..........I currently use a W520 and am about to purchase another for my wife who also requires a similar machine (we use AutoCAD,ArchiCAD, Revit, Rhino, CS5 etc)....Question.....as it is now in W530 guise, before i make the purchase, can anyone tell me if the W520 and W530 can share 6/9 cell batteries and also the new 135 or 170 power cords??

many thanks in anticipation...wanting to place order today!

Gavin, Adelaide

W520 i7-2760QM NVQuadro 2000M 160GbSSD FHD1900x1080 24GbRAM (2x4 + 2x8), Win7Pro

[SSDee]

The W530 won't charge W520 batteries. Isn't that great? Lenovo wanted to insure that you have to buy new batteries, and only from them.

You may want to have a look at the new Dell Precision m4700, before you buy the W530.

[gvnchw]

thanks for the reply. So the W530 power chord will not charge the W520 batteries.....so I am assuming that the batteries can not be shared between the 520 and 530? 

I am aware DELL make a powerful mobile workstation.....just don't really like the build quality/feel of DELLS.....just a personal thing.

[SSDee]

It has nothing to do with the power supply - they are the same. Lenovo put (il)"logic" into the W530 to force the customer to buy new batteries from Lenovo; third party batteries and W520 batteries are not permitted.

This is NOT the way to maintain brand loyalty.